“But to the Eyes of the Man of Imagination, Nature is Imagination itself. As a man is, So he Sees. As the Eye is formed, such are its Powers.”

Letter to Revd. Dr. Trusler (1799)
Context: To the Eyes of a Miser a Guinea is more beautiful than the Sun & and a bag worn with the use of Money has more beautiful proportions than a Vine filled with Grapes. The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the Eyes of others only a Green thing that stands in the way. Some see Nature all Ridicule and Deformity, and by these I shall not regulate my proportions; and some scarce see Nature at all. But to the Eyes of the Man of Imagination, Nature is Imagination itself. As a man is, So he Sees. As the Eye is formed, such are its Powers..

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "But to the Eyes of the Man of Imagination, Nature is Imagination itself. As a man is, So he Sees. As the Eye is formed,…" by William Blake?
William Blake photo
William Blake 249
English Romantic poet and artist 1757–1827

Related quotes

William Blake photo
Letitia Elizabeth Landon photo

“Imagination's truth is from its power:
Man's genius can create when nature's felt;
He copies when he deems that he invents.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist

Translations, From the French

Richard Feynman photo

“The imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man.”

Richard Feynman (1918–1988) American theoretical physicist

The Value of Science (1955)

Charles Cooley photo
Caspar David Friedrich photo

“When a landscape is enveloped in mist it appears larger, more majestic, and increases the power of imagination... The eye and the imagination are on the whole more attracted.”

Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840) Swedish painter

Friedrich's remark to Carl Gustac Carus, as cited by Sigrid Hinz, Caspar David Friedrich in Briefen und Bekenntnissen; Henschelverlag Kunst und Gesellchaft, Berlin ,1968 p. 239; translated and quoted in Religious Symbolism in Caspar David Friedrich, by Colin J. Bailey https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/api/datastream?publicationPid=uk-ac-man-scw:1m2225&datastreamId=POST-PEER-REVIEW-PUBLISHERS-DOCUMENT.PDF, paper; Oct. 1988 - Edinburgh College of Art, p. 19
undated

Zora Neale Hurston photo
Joseph Joubert photo

“The imagination is the eye of the soul.”

Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French moralist and essayist
Marcus Aurelius photo
Leonardo Da Vinci photo

“Why does the eye see more clearly when asleep than the imagination when awake?”

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
Variant: Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than with the imagination being awake?

Sun Myung Moon photo

Related topics